


The Way of Science

by maitimiel



Category: The Arcana (Visual Novel)
Genre: Diary/Journal, Gen, Other tags to be added, Red Plague (The Arcana), no betas we die like men, pre-fucking with Death Valdemar
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-01
Updated: 2020-01-31
Packaged: 2021-02-20 09:06:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 5,761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22079497
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maitimiel/pseuds/maitimiel
Summary: Valdemar is appointed head physician and put in charge of finding a cure for the Red Plague that is spreading through Vesuvia. They start a journal to document their findings.Updates daily-ish?
Comments: 9
Kudos: 23





	1. Like a dream come alive

**Author's Note:**

> Lonaargh told me she would write a journal for Julian this year and I just couldn't resist ~~Valdemar~~ trying my hand at Valdemar's version of that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please see the end notes!

14th day of Morgannen, 4762

This journal aims to document and examine the new affliction that seems to be quickly spreading among Vesuvia residents in recent weeks. As of this time, 16 people have reported the symptoms of what the commoners have started calling the "Red Plague," and 2 deaths have been associated with this disease. It's still unclear where the illness originated, or how it proliferates.

Today I have been appointed by the Count and Countess of Vesuvia to help diagnose and cure the people of the city suffering from this ailment, and for that purpose I have been assigned two younger doctors who shall assist me treating the sick. I was also given an office at the palace, although my time should be more fruitfully spent next to my patients. I've set up a rotation with my assistants, Dr Laerte and Dr Mylos, to keep as close an eye on the sick as possible, though Dr Mylos has protested the time commitment. Hopefully, a good look at our suffering patients will change his mind. Regardless, a third doctor might be necessary in the near future. I must speak with the Count again regarding our resources needs.

The following symptoms have been described by the people affected:

  1. Fatigue - some have reported feeling so fatigued they were unable to work or perform basic tasks, however, others seem to be able to cope with it.
  2. Muscle pain - intensity varies, but men appear to be more severely affected.
  3. Headaches
  4. Fever - both fatal cases had fevers shortly before their deaths, but some patients have been feverish for days and aren't dead yet
  5. Shivers - ofter associated with the fever, but not always.
  6. Reddening of the sclera - possibly the most characteristic symptom. All patients who have sought medical care had blood-red eyes, but it's possible that's because this symptom is the one most likely to alarm the peasants.
  7. Vomiting
  8. Delirium
  9. Death



The treatment consists mainly of drinking fluids and trying to control the fever. Some believe that the tea of the sea violet leaf can prolong patients' lives, but it's hard to tell on such a small sample.

Of the fatal patients, one has passed away at home and one at Dr Myka's healing house in the flooded district. Eight more patients are currently interned there, though he doesn't appear to have any more information regarding a cure than any other doctor in Vesuvia. He refused the invitation to join the Palace's team but has agreed to allow me and my assistants to visit and keep tabs on the people currently under his care. Two more are interned with Dr Almae. All other people known to be sick are being tended to in their own homes, and checking on them took the better part of the day. It would be better to install a healing facility near my office and gather all afflicted with the Plague there, but Count Lucio has denied my request for the time being.

Plans for tomorrow include debriefing with my assistants to find out any information they might have learned, and a meeting with Count Lucio. It would please me to have access to the patients that have already died, but one has already been cremated, and the family won't let me touch the other one. In the event of a new death soon, I shall request the Count to secure the corpse until after I have examined it - the feelings of uneducated peasants shouldn't stay in the way of science and healing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Several OCs will be named and killed offscreen, though the work might contain descriptions. The apprentice might also make an appearance at some point, and then die, you can probably sense a theme here xD
> 
> I have no specific plans about anything in this fic. I'm writing it as I go, fully on my pants. I might at some point make it shippy/smutty, and I might not. There might be some gross manipulation of corpses, and very serious matters will be treated... clinically and as non-sensitively as Valdemar would treat them. 
> 
> If necessary, warnings will be present at the beginning of chapters to stop anyone from reading anything they'd rather not, as well as on the tags.


	2. I must stay conscious through the madness and chaos

15th day of Morgannen, 4762

Five new peasants have started showing symptoms of the Plague overnight, and another of Dr Myka's patients has died. He sent the body to the crematorium before I could reach his office, and I have given him a piece of my mind. How are we to find a cure if we cannot understand the disease? 

Dr Laerte believes there might be a lot more people ill than we know of, who haven't sought medical help yet. The commoners of Vesuvia tend to be naíve and superstitious, and will first go to uneducated "healers" and "magicians." I have requested her to go door-to-door on the flooded district once her route is completed, and assigned Dr Mylus to South End. The Count has promised to hire more doctors, which should help cover the rest of the city.

I had started to wonder whether poor hygiene might be related to the spread of the Plague, as the flooded district is by far the most affected part of Vesuvia, but one of the people brought to me today is a servant who lives at the palace. The Countess seems most distressed by the state of the girl; I had her brought to my office. She's not feverish yet, but her eyes have already turned red and she complains of strong pains all over her body. Dr Mylus wanted to give her the violet tea, but I've decided to wait. It'll be more beneficial for the city if we can pinpoint what exactly is causing this Plague than to heal this one servant girl. She's under constant watch now, and hopefully, we will all learn something from her.


	3. What a time, what a time, what a time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Valdemar gets some toys! \o/

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All medical talk is really gibberish xD

16th day of Morgannen, 4762

The palace servant's state is quickly deteriorating. She has started shivering and vomiting, and won't take any sustenance willingly. Unfortunately, this is not particularly revealing as multiple other patients showed these symptoms. She has been crying a lot and started talking to herself, but it's unclear whether that's an effect of the Plague or just her need to endless babble regardless of her audience. I've put Dr Laerte in charge of her for the night. 

Dr Laerte might be a decent scientist. When she's not muttering nonsense about sleep and 'unreasonable workloads,' she does have some interesting insights. Today she has mapped all known cases of the disease and it appears that while poverty in itself might not be a factor, the Plague does seem to spread faster among the parts of the city nearest to the forest. Perhaps it is being transmitted by animals or insects that inhabit the woods, or the citizens who live by the forest might be consuming contaminated food gathered there. It's worth looking into, and I have sent a note to the Count to send someone there to pick samples and bring them to my office. 

In the meantime, we now have 34 people sick, and a total of 8 fatal cases, though one of them wasn't diagnosed until after he was already dead. A stable boy in Praetor Vlastomil's manor. I received the corpse this morning as I was having my tea, and was utterly delighted!

My glee didn't last very long, however. Clearly, Vlastomil wasn't too careful with the body preservation and just shoved it in a carriage, possibly hours after the death. I did still open it up but found nothing useful.

However, I managed to get my hands on two much fresher subjects in the afternoon! An elderly woman from South End died about an hour before I arrived at her residence for a check-up, and I requested a carriage to bring the body to my office immediately. She had lovely entrails, bloated and swollen, lungs much softer than I would have expected for someone her age. It seems the Plague affects the inside of a patient just as much as the outside!

Then there was another boy, one of Dr Almae's. The doctor let me examine the body on sight, all the while standing in a corner and covering their mouth. Very odd behaviour.

I ran into the Count a few minutes ago, and he was pale and irritable. I asked again about installing a medical facility by the Palace, and he once again refused. He did, however, granted me permission to recruit two more doctors, so that's progress. I shall have to make do, for now. At least with how quickly people have been falling ill, there'll be no shortage of subjects to study and learn from.


	4. You're right back where you started from

17th day of Morgannen, 4762

My assistants are complete idiots.

News about our research have started spreading more quickly now that a total of 18 people have died and at least 62 have been diagnosed with the Red Plague. Just as well, new miraculous "cures" have started being announced. Dr a sent out a note to Dr Mylus about this root infusion he was trying out on his patients and Dr Mylus has ministered the infusion to every last one of our live patients!!! I don't even know how to begin to assess this level of incompetence and stupidity. ALL of them! How are we to determine if the infusion is helping without a control group? That's not how you do research, we should have given it to a part of our subjects, given a placebo to another part, and left a third part untreated for comparison purposes. Now we have to start over with new subjects, and days of work have been lost. Dr Laerte has admitted to helping Dr Mylus in this insane endeavor, and while she looked properly chastised, she still claimed that she had the patients best interests at heart. She's weak, and weak people aren't cut for medicine. I have sent them to the Palace library until they have read and checked all available information on infectious disease in this type of climate -- this way they can't do any more damage for the time being. 

The only patient who wasn't compromised is the servant girl, Esther, who was still locked in my office during the day. The servant I ordered to watch her was hysterical by the time I reached them, and I had to let her out, so I'm watching over her myself. No matter. She's finally stopped vomiting since there's nothing left in her stomach anymore, and she has reached the fever stage, which is fascinating. Over the past 3 hours, I've sat on a chair next to her bed, watching her, and she seems awfully frightened, certainly due to the delirious images she must be seeing. I wish I could look directly inside her brain, and see what she sees. Perhaps I will. I'm keeping my surgical tools right by her bedside table, so that I may start as soon as she stops ~~struggling~~ breathing. I can barely contain myself.

I mustn't. Must I?


	5. Find a cure for my life, put a price on my soul

18th day of Morgannen, 4762

Esther is dead. She took her last breath 3 hours after midnight, eyes locked with mine. I got to work immediately, but for all I can tell, her brain is just a regular brain, and her heart is just a regular heart. This is not what I expected. I had hoped that if I were quick enough, I could feel, witness if you will, the plague doing its bloody work. This servant's body didn't look particularly sick - not as much as the previous cadavers. I will need to compare more to determine what's the plague's doing, and what's just poor general health.

I've kept heart and brain in formaldehyde for future reference, and sent the rest of her to the crematorium. 

My assistants are still confined to the library, and I made the rounds through the city by myself today. The day was quiet- only 8 new sick people, and 3 deaths. Their bodies await me on Dr Almae's clinic, and I must rush to see them, 

New assistants arriving tomorrow. 


	6. Loneliness remembers

19th day of Morgannen, 4762

New assistants arrived today, haven't learned their names yet. Everyone was sent out due to the spike of Plague cases, including 3 new Palace inhabitants. The Count has banished them out of the grounds in a rage.

  * People sick: 113
  * Deaths today: 32



Looks like feeding patients the root infusion wasn't to their best interests after all.


	7. Tik tok on the clock but the party don't stop

20th day of Morgannen, 4762

Where should I begin? 

Things have changed around here, in a most exciting manner. Yesterday saw the greatest spike in infections to date, by a very large margin! 96 new cases were identified, a number we can't even begin to explain. Even today's numbers (52 new cases, 21 deaths) can't compare. I'm amazed and intrigued by this development, and have started a chart (attached to the end of this notebook) in order to properly analyze the numbers. It's truly fascinating. 

Due to the large number of new patients, both I and my assistants have been running around town all day, with only brief breaks for rest and sustenance. As promised, 3 new doctors have joined my ranks; these were sent from Prakra, an arrangement made by the countess. They are strong and dedicated, and good at following orders. Their names all sound the same. Each of us was in charge of a little over 20 patients in order to cover the whole city (Dr Mylus wasn't present yesterday or today.) I have requested reports to be written about the patients I haven't personally visited.

I focused my attention on the Heart District. Its inhabitants had been largely unaffected so far, possibly due to its proximity to the Palace and its good conditions of hygiene. However, out of 96 new cases yesterday, 48 were in the Heart district, as well as 33 out of today's new cases. It seems likely something about the environment is causing the spread of disease, it can hardly be a coincidence that so many would suddenly fall sick in the same place, much more statistically than anywhere else in Vesuvia. I'll put Dr Laerte to research this.

Among the newest cases, 5 are Palace servants. Count Lucio attempted to throw them away from the Palace, but rumours have it that the Countess opposed to his decision. She didn't come with the Prakran doctors when they presented themselves, nor did she reply to my note regarding her servant girl's death, but she did send a pouch of gold for the research.

One thing that continues to bother me is that it is impossible to truly control any patient's treatment if they live in their own houses where their loved ones regularly ministrate them untested medication. Their eating habits are also completely out of our control, as well as any other practices they might engage in. How am I to know if the cacti root infusion killed a patient, or some other "magical" concoction given to them by their ignorant wife? The more the Plague progresses, the more vital it is for us doctors to be able to study it, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. I must get the count to concede and let me instal my own facility to gather all of these people.

  * Patients diagnosed today: 52
  * Today's deaths: 21
  * Patients being treated: 144
  * Total deaths: 64




	8. You're my heart-taker

21st day of Morgannen, 4762

Only two patients died today, both elderly, both sick for nearly a week. Perhaps it ought to be weird that I feel almost… disappointed? After the spike on the 19th, I expected death rates to be directly elevated, but it remains difficult to establish patterns of any kind with this disease. 

However, the day wasn't lost! We might have just found a brand new symptom: One of my patients has started vomiting blood!!

This young man has been sick for several days now, was already sick, in fact, before I was assigned to this position. He's strong and vigorous, and his state hasn't altered much in the past week. He's had headaches, the occasional fever, and the bloody sclera. Today as I was doing my round through the Flooded District, his young sister came rushing to me, urging me to hurry. I found him curved over a porcelain bowl, retching. 

He was subject to my assistants' reckless medication, so I can't tell for sure that this symptom is a pure Plague symptom, but I'm very, very curious about it, and how it will evolve. I ordered his family to bring him to my office in the Palace, and they seemed eager to comply so that he might be healed. The servants have been ordered to feed him plenty of liver and other organs, and I have set up a watch. If only I could accommodate more patients like this!

Dr Mylus was once again absent today, and I've sent one of the Prakrans, Dr ~~Nareh Naren~~ Narah after him. It's tiresome to wait and count on someone to do a job if they're not willing to be reliable. Dr Mylus didn't open the door for Dr Narah, however, and I have half a mind to send a Palace official pick him up tomorrow. We shall see.

43 new patients were diagnosed today, bringing the total number of patients under my care to 185. Naturally, with only 5 doctors paying them visits, I was forced to make changes to our rotations and times. Now each doctor must see at least 3 patients per hour, and commit to at least 14 hours of work per day. Dr Laerte seemed bothered but didn't complain for once. I do have plans to make this schedule more efficient, mainly, to have the patients that are strong enough see me at the Palace, so that time that would be wasted moving through the city can be spent tending to patients and noting their symptoms. 


	9. We're not friends

22nd day of Morgannen, 4762

An interesting day. Still no match for the 14th, but we have gone over 200 live patients, with 27 deaths. 

The young man in my office is called Bastien, and while he's still vomiting blood at irregular intervals, he is reasonably well. He says that the headaches have diminished and he even tidied my office while I was away. Of course, that was a huge waste of time since everything that was previously on its ideal location is now without order, and I shall have to move it all back. Still it bodes well for his recovery, presumably. I haven't been able, however, to determine what might have caused this improvement. Is it just the fact that he is young and works in the field? Might as well put the elderly out of their misery, if that's the case.

Still no sign of Dr Mylus and I wasn't able to go fetch him today. Will try to go tomorrow, or the day after.

Dr Myka, however, came to look for me while I was out. He spoke to Bastien and told him an address, which Bastien hasn't noted down because he is illiterate, but it's definitely not the location of the doctor's healing centre. I'm intrigued.


	10. All's well that ends well

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lose some friends, get some new, yay!

23rd day of Morgannen, 4762

Today was a very pleasant and satisfactory day. 

To begin with, since Bastien was feeling better, I decided to bring him with me to my rounds. The boy is uneducated and not particularly brilliant, but he's shown a lot of curiosity, and it was refreshing for once to talk to someone who is as fascinated by the Plague development as I am. If I had more time, I might take him on as an apprentice. Such a shame. Blood vomiting continues, but he's getting better at aiming it away from my clothes, so I have no complaints, really. 

I've set up a prioritization system with one of the Prakrans (Narem?) so that two doctors can do a quick preliminary check on the ~~subjects~~ patients, no longer than 5 minutes, and note who will need further attention during the day, and who can be skipped. With a total of 219 sick people, it makes no sense to note down every single blood-shot eye. I'm most interested in the anomalies, the special cases and circumstances, like Bastien.

We completed our initial duties an hour and 17 minutes faster than yesterday, which allowed us time for a staff meeting. Laerte has managed to contact about 4 doctors who would be willing to join our ranks for 17 gold coins each per week. I shall make a request to the Count if I can find him. He hasn't answered any of my latest notes, but he can hardly hide forever.

And the subject of hiding, since we saved so much time today, I've decided to pay Dr Mylus a little visit! Unsurprisingly, he didn't feel inclined to open the door for me any more than he did for any of the people I had previously sent, but his lock wasn't particularly hard to break. I found him shivering in bed, next to an overfilled chamber pot. Charming!

He's dying, of course. His bloody eyes are sinking into his emaciated face, he was so feverish I could get no intelligible sentences out of him whatsoever, and the stench! On his bedside, there was half a jug of that root infusion he gave to all our patients when Dr Myka told him to. Idiot. Had he come to me, I might have been able to help him, or at least provide him with a cleaner death. 

But the cherry on top, so to speak, was something else altogether.

I did mean to check in with Dr Myka at some point to inquire about his reasons for coming to my office, but I had more important concerns throughout the day. Tonight, when I returned to my office, I was surprised to find this under my flower pot:

_Dr Valdemar,_  
_I was at your office last night with an urgent message, which you seemingly didn't heed. I must ask again that you meet me as soon as possible in the 6th house of the street behind the Coliseum. I assure you this is of interest to you, as much as it is mine._   
_Come soon._  
  
_Dr Sallus Myka_

My curiosity was piqued, and I made my way downtown at once.

The 6th house was a nondescript building, in slight disrepair. I knocked on the door and was immediately ushered inside by the doctor, who seemed at the same time hopeful and suspicious. He brought me downstairs, into the basement, and what I saw still warms my heart: it's a laboratory. A real laboratory, like the ones I was trained in when I first started studying medicine. There were 10 beds lined on one side of the room and 10 on the other. Beds where I can put patients and properly study and observe them. It's small, but I can work with this.

And that wasn't all!

After that, he led me back upstairs, unto a small bedroom next to the kitchen. And there was a girl, a dirty, famished-looking girl, and she told me to sweetest words I've ever heard:

"I know where the disease is coming from."

She told me about her travels and wandering, and how, not so many years ago, on a fairly distant land, an entire army had fallen prey to the same sickness. All symptoms matched, her descriptions were so similar to what I myself have observed! "Do you know the cure?" I asked, but she didn't. She knows how it spreads, though. It's beetles. Red, shiny beetles who fly through the city, and infect everything they touch.

I confess I don't know yet how I'll use this information, but this is a start. It's definitely a start. I must get ahold of these beetles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't really have a timeline here as previously mentioned, but I did realise something today: I'm writing Valdemar pre-messing with Death and the Devil and the other courtiers. So guess we have that to look forward to :D


	11. Won't you come on over?

24th day of Morgannen, 4762

  * Patients: 233
  * Patients diagnosed today: 63
  * Today's deaths: 49
  * Total deaths: 248



I went back to Dr a's this morning to discuss the details of our new arrangement. I confess that in my initial excitement, it didn't occur to me to question why he would provide me with a place such as this when he was initially so reluctant to work with me at all. It was a most… entertaining conversation. I'm glad I never apprenticed under him after all. Because the man is overtaken, no, consumed by fear! He spent a good half an hour (and would have taken longer, had I not interrupted him!) telling me about his reputation in the city, and about how maintaining appearances in the only thing that allows a researcher to walk on the edges of what's morally acceptable by the common man. Waste! Waste of time and energy, waste of time that could be better used on the craft! Waste of a scientific mind, on the mind-boggling boringness of other people's petty limitations. I will take advantage of this opportunity, but I shan't mind his ignorant warnings. I know how much knowledge is worth and won't be stopped by an old man's blabbering nonsense. 

The house includes, beyond the dormitory for 20, a well-supplied room for surgeries and autopsies, and several additional rooms that could be used to house more patients, if properly set. I took Dr Laerte with me to assess the facility, as well as Bastien, in case there was any use for him (he's not so much vomiting blood right now, but constantly drooling it? No changes beyond that). We have made a list of patients we'll be moving there for observation, with a backup list so that we can replace people as needed. The Prakrans remain to check up on the city - I made the red-haired one their leader, instructed him to come to me regularly with updates. 

I visited Dr Mylus myself, though. He might be the most delirious patient we have had so far. I can't wait to dig into his brain. 


	12. I watched you suffer

25th day of Morgannen, 4762

  * Patients: 230
  * Patients diagnosed today: 78
  * Today's deaths: 81
  * Total deaths: 329



Death's have been increasing again in the last couple of days. The amount of deaths now surpasses the number of live patients, which apparently has the Countess upset. 

~~~ ~~~ Ж ~~~ ~~~

Dear Valdemar,

I have received your latest report regarding the victims of this dreadful plague, and my heart aches for the people of Vesuvia. I trust that you are taking every possible measure to try to help our people in these dark times, and I would like to offer once more any assistance I can. If the Palace can provide you with anything that could speed the search for a cure, please inform me as soon as possible, and I shall see that it's given to you.

With my heartfelt regards

Countess Nadia of Vesuvia

~~~ ~~~ Ж ~~~ ~~~

I asked yet again for a centralised research centre, and for more of those Prakran doctors. 

On less tedious news, Laerte and I have split the patients we brought to Dr Myka's underground laboratory into three groups; the first thing we'd like to test is whether the violet root infusion is actively harmful or just useless to plague victims. For that purpose, a third of our subjects will be given daily portions of it, a third won't be given any, and the last third will be given a false concoction that is simply boiled bay leaves, to see if the illusion of treatment makes any difference. All of our subjects were diagnosed on the same day, and have roughly the same symptoms. If it turns out the infusion is harmful, I'd like to test whether it's harmful to plague victims only, or to the general population.

Hopefully it isn't a waste of time

I spent nearly two hours with Dr Mylus today. His state continues to deteriorate, and yet he won't die. It is… entrancing. He remains in bed, looking panicked. At times he will beg me for release, and at other times, will shout at me to go away. He shakes, he vomits, his eyes don't just look bloody, they look… aged. He is also vomiting blood now, like Bastien, though it appears to be just an effect of his constant throwing up for the past week. But he won't die. I hope to be there when it happens, but my busy schedule might make that difficult.

Bastien seemed a bit tired today, so I left him in my office and sent a servant to read him stories.


	13. I like to wait to see how things turn out if you apply some pressure

26th day of Morgannen, 4762

  * Patients: 221
  * Patients diagnosed today: 72
  * Today's deaths: 81
  * Total deaths: 410



I wonder how the division of authority works in the Palace. The Countess has sent me a note informing me that she arranged for 4 more Prakran doctors, as well as made an announcement to the people of Vesuvia that doctors willing to help cure the plague will be compensated for the efforts by the Palace. Yet, she informed me that a centralised research facility is beyond her powers at the moment.

Since I cannot keep any significant amount of patients in the Palace, I have moved my office to Dr Myka's hidden lab. This way I can more easily keep track of our tests, and am, in any way, closer to the Flooded District where most of our patients reside. It does create an issue when people go seek me in the Palace, so I have given Bastien the status of 'secretary' so that he can freely haul Palace carriages to bring me messages. He's doing mostly okay, less morose than yesterday, and eager to be of use. 

Dr Myka is unhappy about all the coming back and forth from his laboratory. He doesn't want the public to know about his involvement with me.

Only one of the patients at Myka's died, and she wasn't one of the people taking the violet. Dr Laerte gets attached to patients entirely too easily, it can't do her any good. One new doctor came looking for me in the afternoon, and, per my orders, Bastien told them to come directly to me in the morning.

I had no time to see Dr Mylus today. I hope he didn't die while I wasn't there. 


	14. The cage is full, stay awake

27th day of Morgannen

  * Patients diagnosed today: 69
  * Patients total: 247
  * Today's deaths: 43
  * Total deaths: 453



I do not recall large portions of last night. 

I had meant to sleep for a few hours after writing my log, but I couldn't bring myself to. I found myself pacing around the lab, re-checking patients I had just examined, poring the pages of Dr Myka's books, and I could not deny myself a strong urge to pay a visit to Dr Mylus. Trying to avoid it would have been pointless, so I went. That's my last clear memory. 

I feel like he was awake, or at least I feel like I heard his voice. 

I dissected him. Somehow, I brought him back to Dr Myka's, took him to the autopsy chamber, and did a full dissection. Bastien has illustrated it, though the blood stains make it hard to discern much. Such a curious boy.

The Countess newest doctors have arrived, as well as 7 interested Vesuvians, though 3 of them advocated for crystal healing and I sent them away. That makes it a total of 12 doctors, not counting myself, 11 if you take into consideration I've been mostly keeping Dr Laerte with me in the lab in order to care for our subjects. (3 died today, two who had been given the violet, one who hadn't). That makes it 22 patients per doctor on average, which is still a lot for the type of study I would have liked to do, but a much more optimistic situation than yesterday. All Prakrams have similar names, and one of the Vesuvian doctors has a truly distasteful one, so I have assigned them all numbers. Should make it easier to track them all. Dr Laerte, however, insists that I call her by her given name.


	15. Keep on running

28th day of Morgannen, 4762

  * Patients diagnosed today: 70
  * Patients total: 259
  * Today's deaths: 58
  * Total deaths: 511
  * Doctors under my supervision: 13



A professor of mine used to try and enforce at least 8h of sleep for all of his pupils every weekday, and 10h during weekends. He would go on and on about the health benefits of sleep and rest and punish students found out the dorms after a certain time. He would also assign us whole books to be read overnight. Naturally, the determined students were able to prioritise and decide which of these activities would teach you the most. The lazy ones who slept all night never managed to pass the class.

Unfortunately, it appears not every doctor out there was taught that lesson. 

Dr. Laerte has failed to medicate our patients today. She was alone in the lab, and was solely responsible for their morning and afternoon dosages. Bastien found her asleep when he went down himself to get food. Together they distributed the afternoon dosages, but there's nothing to be done for the one they should have taken in the morning. Dr Laerte was in tears when I arrived, and I have prescribed her the same herbal mix I've been consuming lately to suppress sleep. Bastien and I will watch the patients ourselves tonight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I added dumb titles to all of the chapters :D


	16. I'm a sad girl

29th day of Morgannen, 4762

  * Patients diagnosed today: 48
  * Patients total: 187
  * Today's deaths: 120
  * Total deaths: 631
  * Doctors under my supervision: 13



Bastien was supposed to help me with patients last night, but around 3 in the morning, he started to feel ill again, vomiting violently and sweating. His clothes were drenched in minutes and I had to stop what we were doing to take him back to his room upstairs, where he just lay in bed shivering until morning. I have never seen him in such poor state. However, I feel like it's interesting to register that he didn't vomit blood. His vomit was _stained_ with blood since he's been drooling it non-stop for days now, but most of it consisted of regular semi-digested matter. 

It's not ~~fair~~ right that this should happen. Bastien just might be the most curious and hardworking young man I’ve ever met. A boy like him, with the proper guidance, could become a doctor. Or at least a doctor’s assistant. Instead, I’m left with a chaotic mixture of incompetence, inexperience, and superstition. All my doctors together probably amount to 2 ½ decent ones, if I’m being optimistic. 

Doctor Laerte showed up in the middle of the morning and took over caring for Bastien so that I could go down to the clinic. There was a spike in the number of deaths today so my doctors finished their rounds earlier. I sent Dr 3 to gather all of them and we sat in a room to brainstorm. 

Pointless waste of time. I’ll return to Bastien.


	17. That's fine

30th day of Morgannen, 4762

  * Patients diagnosed today: 56
  * Patients total: 123
  * Today's deaths: 47
  * Total deaths: 678
  * Doctors under my supervision: 12



Regular number of deaths, regular number of new infections, one of my doctors quit because he couldn’t handle the fact that ‘crystal healing’ isn’t real medicine.

There’s no time for anything.

**Author's Note:**

> Several OCs will be named and killed offscreen, though the work might contain descriptions. The apprentice might also make an appearance at some point, and then die, you can probably sense a theme here xD
> 
> I have no specific plans about anything in this fic. I'm writing it as I go, fully on my pants. I might at some point make it shippy/smutty, and I might not. There might be some gross manipulation of corpses, and very serious matters will be treated... clinically and as non-sensitively as Valdemar would treat them. 
> 
> If necessary, warnings will be present at the beginning of chapters to stop anyone from reading anything they'd rather not, as well as on the tags.


End file.
